On Monday, September 17, the Year 10 peer mentors from Dyffryn Taf went to the National Botanical Gardens of Wales to take part in a workshop about racial awareness run by 'Croeso'. 'Croeso' is a project celebrating the diverse people and cultures of Wales, working with a broad range of organisations to promote understanding of language, faith, community and inclusion. The mentors started off the day by having a group discussion on what they thought about racial equality. They found out from their discussion that their area of Wales does not have as much diversity as say Swansea or Cardiff, where the Croeso project is based. They then looked at different types of people (for example, asylum seekers and migrant workers) who come into the UK for different reasons. A lot of the things they thought about these types of people were wrong and the result of prejudice and stereotyping. To conclude the morning there was a quiz, in which Rosie Holt, Matilda Mitchell and Celia Noblett were part of the winning team and were rewarded with t- shirts, bearing the slogan 'No To Racism'. During the afternoon they looked at ways on how to spread the word on what they had learnt. Ideas they came up with included a topical assembly and quizzes and games for Years 7 & 8. "I found the whole day really interesting," said Lauren Jones, one of the mentors. "I didn't know the real importance of the subject, but by the end of the day I had learned so much that I can now pass on to others and hope the message stays with us 'say no to racism!'"
